Dynamic card system and method

ABSTRACT

A dynamic entertainment playing card having a flexible electronic display and a processor is configured to change state during a card game based on input received by the card during the card game and applied to a set of game rules by the processor. The card display is configured to display changing images on the face of the card during game play according to the changing card state.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/379,766, “DYNAMIC CARD SYSTEM AND METHOD,”Attorney Docket No. SHAP-2005002, naming Charles Zapata and Daniel J.Shapiro as the inventor(s), filed Apr. 21, 2006; the present applicationclaims the benefit of priority date of the above-listed application, theentirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Traditional card games, such as poker, contract bridge, and the like,have been played using a predetermined number of deck cards. Forexample, a conventional deck or pack of playing cards is composed offifty-three or fifty-four cards, namely, thirteen spades, thirteenhearts, thirteen clubs, thirteen diamonds and one or two jokers. In mostcard games, a conventional deck (or decks) of playing cards is sharedamong players joining a game.

In the gaming industry there is a significant volume of gambling whichoccurs at live table games that use playing cards. Exemplary live tablegames include blackjack, poker, baccarat, and others. These and manyother games all involve play using playing cards. The use of playingcards has a number of associated limitations and disadvantages whichhave plagued the gaming industry.

The use of playing cards at live table games typically involves severaloperational requirements which are time-consuming. These operations areconveniently described as collecting, shuffling and dealing the cards.In many card games there is also a step of cutting the deck after it hasbeen shuffled.

In the collecting operation, a dealer typically collects the cards justplayed at the end of a hand of play. This is done in preparation forplaying the next hand of cards. The cards are best collected so all arein a face-down or face-up condition. The cards also are typicallystraightened into a stack with the long sides and short sides aligned.These manipulations take time and are not typically appreciated byeither the dealer or players as enhancing the play and entertainmentvalue of the game.

In many games the cards collected at the end of the hand are depositedin a discard rack, which collects the played cards until the time a newstack is obtained or the stack is shuffled. In some games the cards areimmediately shuffled into the stack either manually or using a shufflingmachine. More typically, the cards are collected and then shuffling isperformed later by the dealer.

When conventional shuffling is needed, it involves a break in the actionof the table game and consumes a significant amount of time. Shufflingis also the most time-consuming operation in preparing for the nexthand. Thus, shuffling is of substantial financial significance to thegaming industry because it requires significant time and reduces thenumber of hands which can be played per hour or other period of time. Inlight of this, there has been interest by casino owners to developpractices which allow more games to be played in a given amount of time.Accomplishing this without detracting from the players' enjoyment anddesire to play the game is a challenging and longstanding issue forcasino owners and consultants in the gaming industry.

An additional consideration in the casino industry is the costsassociated with shuffling machines. Shuffling machines currentlyavailable have costs in the thousands of dollars. Such machines savetime in performing the shuffling process, but still require time toload, operate and unload. These factors reduce the savings associatedwith reduced shuffling time and effort.

Another form of cards used for entertainment are trading cards. Someforms of trading card can be rare and difficult to obtain. Playingcards, as distinguished from trading cards, are often readily available.This is especially true of the well-known decks of fifty-two (orfifty-three or fifty-four) playing cards. Many different games can beplayed with a single deck of this type of playing cards. The number ofgames possible is limited for the most part only by the imagination ofthe players. Playing cards themselves, individually and collectively,usually have no value other than their amusement value. Similarly, somecard games require decks especially printed for the game. Cards of thisnature have little value other than their value for the playing of theparticular game for which they are printed.

Many games played with conventional playing cards are games of chance.Games of chance can have rules that either require the random selectionof cards or depend in some other way upon the occurrence of eventsoutside the control of the players. Other games played with conventionalcards may require strategy. Strategy games usually limit the level ofstrategy with restrictive rules of play.

However, collectible card games have made a significant impact on boththe trading card industry and on the game industry. Collectible cardssuitable for use in playing games of this nature are also known asfantasy trading cards. Exemplary fantasy trading cards representfictional characters and situations.

One such game is a fantasy game utilizing figures such as sorcerers,wizards, monsters, and other combatants as subject matter. Another suchgame utilizes a science fiction universe previously created fortelevision and movie entertainment. Fantasy games may often includecards that are rarer than other cards. However, determining which cardsmay be more rare is not integral when using the cards, rather each cardor combination of cards has characteristics that may be used instrategic game play.

Conventionally, a wide variety of such fantasy trading card games havebeen also proposed, each of which has its fans. In contrast to theconventional card decks, such fantasy trading card games are usuallyplayed with decks of cards which are different from one another (and maynot have an equal number of cards). However, it is to be noted that manyof the fantasy trading card games are common to one another in theviewpoint of being played through the following three stages.

At the first stage, players of each fantasy trading card game gathertheir cards from various kinds of cards that have been issued in orderto build their collection. Each species of card has a different effectin the game and in many cases, the more effective a card is, the fewernumbers of that card are issued (i.e., better cards are often rarer). Apack of cards is often sold with opaque packaging so that players cannotidentify the contents or species of cards packaged before they purchasethem. As a result, decks purchased by players would have different cardconstructions from each other, and if a player wants to build a powerfuldeck, the player has to collect (and possibly trade) cards.

At the second stage, each player selects a number of cards from theircollection to build a deck. Usually, a card has ability points andproperties, and an ability point may be modified according to itsproperty. Furthermore, there are cards that have special effects inaddition to or instead of ability points and properties. Therefore, inorder to build a desirable deck, each player must not only collect cardswith high ability points but also select cards suitable for their gamestrategy, taking into consideration various cards' properties andspecial effects. A good player may build a suitable deck if the playerknows their opponent's card list.

At the third stage, two (or more) players individually prepare theirdecks from their collections of cards and thereafter start a tradingcard game among them. They draw one or more cards for their hands fromtheir decks and then each of them puts a card from his hand on a gamefield by turns. Card-to-card matches are made between cards on the fieldrepeatedly and after a series of matches a winner or a loser of the gameis decided.

At the first stage mentioned above, players have fun collecting cards tostrengthen their collections. A card provider (e.g., a company thatcreates and distributes the cards) who provides the fantasy trading cardgame should increase the number of types of cards to enhance eachplayer's game experience. However, to ensure that players enjoy thegame, game balance should be preserved. While some players may clamorfor more powerful cards, unchecked increases in the introduction ofpowerful cards is likely to destroy the balance of game. Specifically,if a lot of species of cards that have high ability points areintroduced, then players who have acquired these cards may become toopowerful for beginning players to enjoy playing the game with them.

Many fantasy trading card games have been computerized as video games.Compared with the live fantasy trading card games, such conventionalcomputerized trading card games do not allow for the collection andtrading of individual cards between players, thereby omitting some ofthe fun from the collecting phase of the trading card games. Likewise,it is difficult to incrementally increase the number of card specieswithin a video game beyond what was originally included in the videogame. Accordingly, a great number of card species and cards have to beprepared in advance in each computerized trading card game before thebeginning to supplying the game to players. On the other hand,paper-printed trading card games can easily increase card species simplyby issuing new card species in addition to the existing card species.Players with the new card(s) and players without new cards can stillplay the game together.

Other forms of trading cards include collectible cards for disbursingand collecting information about public figures. For example, tradingcards representing figures in the entertainment industry can depictmusic performers or television and movie personalities. More familiartypes of trading cards are the well-known baseball and other sportsplayer cards. Baseball cards are often provided with a photographicdepiction of an athlete along with biographic and statisticalinformation concerning various athletes and teams. Other cards dealingwith sports figures are also available and are used by sportsenthusiasts for collecting information about athletes and sports teams.

Additionally, trading cards directed to niche markets continue todevelop. The sports and non-sports subject matter can be as varied andobscure as women's bowling, bass fishing and National Historical Parks.However, the most successful sets are those with wide appeal thatcontain opportunities to have ongoing content for the cards. This partlyaccounts for the success of sports cards. However, any type of cards canbe used by enthusiasts of the subject matter as trading cards.

Enthusiasts may exchange trading cards with other enthusiasts in orderto obtain cards that are needed to complete sets of related cards or toobtain cards that are not readily available. Collectors can also buy andsell trading cards for their economic and historic value. Since sometrading cards are more common than others, the monetary value of a cardcan depend on its availability.

In addition to new card games and software games for playing card games,communications between electronic devices have also improved in recentyears. Communication networks are well known in the computercommunications field. By definition, a network is a group of computersand associated devices that are connected by communications facilitiesor links. Network communications can be of a permanent nature, such asvia cables, or can be of a temporary nature, such as connections madethrough telephone or wireless links. Networks may vary in size, from alocal area network (“LAN”), consisting of a few computers orworkstations and related devices, to a wide area network (“WAN”), whichinterconnects computers and LANs that are geographically dispersed, to aremote access service, which interconnects remote computers viatemporary communication links. An internetwork, in turn, is the joiningof multiple computer networks, both similar and dissimilar, by means ofgateways or routers that facilitate data transfer and conversion fromvarious networks. A well-known abbreviation for the term internetwork is“internet.” As currently understood, the capitalized term “Internet”refers to the collection of networks and routers that use the InternetProtocol (“IP”), along with higher-level protocols, such as theTransmission Control Protocol (“TCP”) or the Uniform Datagram Packet(“UDP”) protocol, to communicate with one another.

In addition to improvements in communications, recent developments indisplay technologies and electronic components now allow certain typesof thin, flexible, and/or lightweight circuits suitable for displayingimages and text. For example, various forms of electrophoretic displays(e.g., e-paper, e-ink, color e-ink and the like) provide non-volatiledisplay technologies that may be used to form images on a displaysurface that does not change, even when not connected to a power supply(or in some forms they only require a relatively small amount of powerto display an image). Likewise, new forms of liquid crystal display(“LCD”) panels may be produced as flexible panels that can display colorimages (some electrophoretic displays cannot display color).

In addition to display technologies, numerous improvements in powertechnology now allow for thin and/or flexible batteries and other powersources (e.g., photo voltaic, ambient, radio frequency and the like).However, these display and power technologies have yet to be applied tothe gaming and trading card arenas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram of a number of interconnected devices thatprovide a dynamic card functionality in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a simple dynamic card that provides anexemplary operating environment for one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a card base that provides an exemplaryoperating environment for one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the actions taken by devices in asimple dynamic card system for processing a card display definingtransaction in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a card display defining routine inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a pictorial diagram of an example card game layout inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a complex dynamic card that provides anexemplary operating environment for one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a pictorial diagram of an example dynamic card layout inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating actions taken between dynamic cards inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a card interaction routine inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIGS. 11A-B are pictorial diagrams of sides of an exemplary trading cardin accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a pictorial diagram of a dynamic card having a touchinterface in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a card update routine inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a pictorial diagram of an exemplary card game playing surfacein accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a pictorial diagram of an alternate card game playing surfacein accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a pictorial diagram of an alternate card base in accordancewith one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description that follows is represented largely in terms ofprocesses and symbolic representations of operations by conventionalcomputer components, including a processor, memory storage devices forthe processor, connected display devices and input devices. Furthermore,these processes and operations may utilize conventional computercomponents in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment,including remote file Servers, computer Servers and memory storagedevices. Each of these conventional distributed computing components isaccessible by the processor via a communication network.

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments asillustrated in the drawings. While embodiments are described inconnection with the drawings and related descriptions, there is nointent to limit the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications andequivalents. In alternate embodiments, additional devices, orcombinations of illustrated devices, may be added to or combined withoutlimiting the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Dynamic entertainment cards address many of the issues presented byconventional static entertainment cards (e.g., conventional playingcards, fantasy trading cards, collectable cards and the like). To showthe operations of dynamic cards, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary dynamiccard system 100 having a number of devices used in exemplaryembodiments. FIG. 1 illustrates dynamic cards 200 (illustrated in FIG. 2and described below), and a network 110, such as a wired or wirelesscommunications network. Also in communication with the network 110 is auser device 150 (such as a personal computer, mobile phone, personaldata assistant, laptop computer, or other user device), and a card base300 (illustrated in FIG. 3 and described below). In alternateembodiments, there may be more dynamic cards 200, card bases 300 and/oruser devices 150. In further embodiments, the roles of one or more ofdynamic cards 200, card base 300 and/or user device 150 may be performedby an integrated device (not shown) or may be distributed acrossmultiple other devices (not shown). In still further embodiments, stilladditional devices (not shown) may be utilized in the dynamic cardsystem 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates several components of a simple dynamic card 200(“SDC”). In some embodiments, the SDC 200 may include many morecomponents than those shown in FIG. 2. However, it is not necessary thatall of these generally conventional components be shown in order todisclose an illustrative embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, an SDC 200 mayinclude an input/output interface 230 for connecting to the otherdevices (e.g., other SDCs 200, card base 300, or the like). Those ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the input/outputinterface 230 includes the necessary circuitry for such a connection andis constructed for use with the appropriate protocol(s).

The SDC 200 may also include a processing unit (not shown), a memory 250and a flexible display 240 (such as a flexible electrophoretic or LCDdisplay), all interconnected along with the input/output interface 230via a bus 220. The memory 250 generally comprises one or more of arandom access memory (“RAM”), a read only memory (“ROM”), flash memory,display memory (e.g., as part of flexible display 240) and a permanentmass storage device, such as a disk drive, flash memory, or the like.The memory 250 stores card information 255 and optionally deckinformation 260. It will be appreciated that these software componentsmay be loaded from a computer readable medium into memory 250 of the SDC200 using a memory mechanism (not shown) associated with a computerreadable medium, such as a floppy disc, tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memorycard, the input/output interface 230 or the like.

Although an exemplary SDC 200 has been described that generally conformsto simple general purpose computing device, those of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate that a SDC 200 may be any of a great number ofdevices capable of communicating with the card base 300 and displayingcard information.

FIG. 3 illustrates several components of the dynamic card base 300. Insome embodiments, the card base 300 may include many more componentsthan those shown in FIG. 3. However, it is not necessary that all ofthese generally conventional components be shown in order to disclose anillustrative embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the card base 300 includesan input/output interface 330 (e.g., for connecting to the network 110or to one or more cards 200). Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the input/output interface 330 includes the necessarycircuitry for such a connection and is constructed for use with anappropriate protocol.

The card base 300 also includes a processing unit 310, a memory 350, andmay include an optional display 340 (or visual/audio indicators), allinterconnected along with the input/output interface 330 via a bus 320.The memory 350 generally comprises a RAM, a ROM, flash memory, and apermanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive. The memory 350stores program code for a game routine 360, in addition to a remotegameplay routine 365, game rules 370, card storage 375, and a securityroutine 380. In addition, the memory 350 also stores an operating system355. It will be appreciated that these software components may be loadedfrom a computer readable medium into memory 350 of the card base 300using a memory mechanism (not shown) associated with a computer readablemedium, such as a floppy disc, tape, DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, theinput/output interface 330 or the like.

Although an exemplary card base 300 has been described that generallyconforms to conventional general purpose computing devices, those ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a card base 300 may beany of a great number of devices capable of communicating with dynamiccards 200, the network 110 or with a user device 150.

FIGS. 4-5 illustrate exemplary steps to set up a deck of SDC 200 in anexemplary dynamic card system 100. Some transactions in the system 100may be more or differently networked than others. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the number and types of devices may vary.

FIG. 4 represents an exemplary, simple dynamic card system interactingwith a base station 300. The base station 300 may provide some of theprocesses and “intelligence” for setting the appearance of the simpledynamic cards 200. In FIG. 4 the interaction between the cards 200 andthe base 300 are illustrated as communication transactions. Oneexemplary illustrated transaction begins with card (and card deck)information being sent 405 from the simple dynamic cards 200 to the base350.

In one exemplary embodiment, sending 405 card information may beaccomplished simply by placing the cards 200 onto the base 300. In analternate embodiment where the base has a box or card carrier formfactor, sending card and/or deck information may comprise placing thecards within the base 300. In still further embodiments, communicationbetween the cards 200 and the base 300 may be accomplished by any typeof data communication (such as wireless and/or communicationover/through conductive materials). Once the base 300 has the cardinformation, the base checks 410 for valid cards. In some embodiments,checking for valid cards may comprise determining if the cards 200 areof an appropriate type for use with the base 300. In other embodimentschecking for valid cards may comprise checking the cards have not beendamaged.

The base checks 415 for an appropriate number of cards. In various typesof card games, the actual number of cards used may be both more or lessthan the number of cards in a single deck. If the base 300 has beendesignated to supply cards for a particular type of game, it will beable to determine if there are a sufficient number of cards for use bythe players. For example, in a “Heads-Up” game of “Texas Hold'em” Poker,the number of cards that are actually revealed during a game is ninecards. Each player would receive two cards and there would be fiveshared cards on the table. In some variations of Texas Hold'em, gamecards may be discarded during the deal, however, they would not berevealed at any point during game play. Accordingly, in a Heads-Up gameof Texas Hold'em the total number of physical cards that are needed forthere to be proper game play is only nine cards. Therefore, when thebase 300 checks for an appropriate number of cards, only nine cardswould need to be present in communication with the base 300 for thistype of game. Note, however, that while only nine cards may bephysically present, when generating values to be assigned to the cards200 or determining which values should be assigned to the cards, a wholedeck of cards may be determined in the base's memory 350. For example,when the base 300 generates 420 card values for the number of cards, thecard values are generated in many embodiments by a “shuffled” deck ofappropriate cards. While a conventional deck of fifty-two playing cardswith thirteen each of clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds may beemployed, in other embodiments, other types of cards may be used, forexample Tarot cards, Mahjong sets, Japanese flower cards, Scrabble®tiles and the like.

Once the base 300 has generated 420 card values for the appropriatenumber of cards that will be used in the game, those values areassociated 425 with display data for the cards. The base 300 will thencommunicate 430 the card values with the display data back to the cards200. The cards 200 are changed 435 to display the appropriate displaydata for the value assigned to each card 200.

While exemplary communication with cards 200 and the base station 300has been shown and described, further embodiments may “deal” cards in anunconventional manner corresponding to the dynamic nature of the cards200. For example, in one embodiment, the physical cards 200 of the gameare dealt out ahead of time to the players and are only revealed atappropriate points during the game. For example, initially the base 300might wirelessly communicate the card values and display data to onlythose cards 200 that are in a player's hand. Later, as the gameprogresses, the base 300 may communicate card values and associateddisplay data to cards 200 shared on a table as each round of a gameprogresses. Such games may be implemented with the base 300 havingknowledge as to which physical cards 200 would be in a player's hand ata given point, or in an alternate embodiment, the base 300 maycommunicate with one or more other devices (e.g. a “smart felt” playingsurface 1400 or a handheld device, not shown) that would communicate thelocation of the cards in proximity to a player back to the base station300.

Additionally, some cards may be multifunction, so the same deck may beused for Poker and Pinochle. Jokers can appear or disappear based on theneeds of the game. Extra cards can blink, make noise, or go blank sothey can be removed from the deck.

In some embodiments, cards in the player's hand may be able to reorderthemselves. For example, in a game where the player has many cards inher hand, the cards would rearrange themselves in descending order tofacilitate game play. Likewise, in games where players reorder cards towin such as Guillotine, the player can tap the card they want to move,and the cards reorder themselves instead of forcing the player to movethem around manually.

To better illustrate the operation of the base 300, FIG. 5 illustratesan exemplary flow diagram for processing SDCs 200. Card processingroutine 500 begins at block 505 where the base 300 obtains cardinformation for cards 200. Next, in block 510, the validity of the cardsis checked. In decision block 515, a determination is made whether thecards are all valid. If so, processing proceeds to block 520 where thequantity of cards is checked to determine if there is a correct numberof cards 200 (e.g., by checking a predefined value or a user input valuefor the type of deck and/or game). If in block 525 it is determined thatthe quantity of cards is sufficient, processing proceeds to block 530.In block 530, card values are generated from the total possible cardvalues and assigned to each of the physical cards 200. In block 535, thecard values are associated with appropriate display data. In variousembodiments the cards 200 may not have explicit values and may only havedisplay data; accordingly, blocks 530 and 535 may be combined into asingle action of associating dynamic content with each of the cards 200.In block 540 the display data is communicated to each of the cards 200and the assigned display data for this “deal” is logged to a storagesystem (e.g., base memory 350 or a remote storage, not shown). Cardprocessing routine 500 then ends at block 599.

Returning to decision block 515, if it was determined that one or moreof the cards was not valid (e.g., wrong type, damaged, conflicts ofanother card, or the like), processing proceeds to block 590 where anindication that there are invalid cards is presented. In someembodiments the indication of invalid cards may be in explicit messageto a user interface (e.g., indicating which card is invalid), while inother embodiments, an indicator (e.g., visual, audible or the like) maybe used to indicate that one or more cards is invalid (e.g., a red LED,tone, or the like). Processing proceeds to block 599.

Likewise, if in decision block 525 it is determined that there is anincorrect quantity of cards, processing proceeds to block 595, where anindication that there is an incorrect quantity of cards is presented toa user of the base 300. In some embodiments the indication of incorrectquantity and indication of invalid card(s) may be combined into a singleindication of an error (e.g., visual or audible indicator), while inother embodiments they may be separate indications. Processing proceedsto block 599.

In one example implementation described below, a deck of fifty-twodynamic cards 200 is capable of shuffling itself. This type of deck canbe used in games in a fashion similar to a conventional deck of playingcards.

Each dynamic card 200 may be made of a flexible plastic. The front faceis a dynamic display surface (e.g., electrophoretic display, LCD, orother thin display 240), while the rear surface is printed withconventional ink with a static decorative image (not shown). In someembodiments, the back may be a dynamic display as well.

The card is equipped with two rows of twenty-six contacts (not shown),one on the front and one on the back. The contacts are aligned such thatif the cards are stacked one atop the other, each card will connect withthe one below. The contacts may be continuous through the card, so anyelectrical signal sent to the leftmost contact of one card will bedetectable on the leftmost contact of any other card placed on top of orbeneath it.

The contacts supply power and display data, and allow the displaysurface on each card to be individually addressed, as follows:

Conventional cards come in decks of fifty-two cards. Each card has anaddress that is unique within its deck, from one to fifty-two. When thataddress is placed on the “Card Address” lines, the Address Decode logic(e.g., in memory 250) enables an electrophoretic display driver (notshown) for that card. Hereafter, a card will be referred to by itsaddress. For example, “C1” will refer to the card whose display ismodified when the address “1” is placed on its card address lines.

This example implementation may also use a “card shuffler” (such as base300). This is a device that comfortably holds all fifty-two cards, andhas contacts that mate with the bottommost card.

The shuffler may supply power to a card 200 placed on top of it throughpower contacts (not shown). Since each card's contacts may pass throughto the back side, the entire deck of cards may be stacked on theshuffler and powered and addressed together.

By measuring the power draw of the cards using an A/D converter (notshown); it is possible to determine how many cards are attached anddrawing power. In other implementations, individual card information maybe accessed to count the cards.

If some number of cards other than fifty-two is attached, an LEDindicator may remain unlit. However, in one implementation, if fifty-twocards are placed on the base 300, the following sequence is executed:

-   (1) An LED indicator turns red.-   (2) A processor (e.g., processor 310) creates an array (not shown)    in memory 350 containing a representation of a standard deck of    fifty-two cards, in arbitrary order.-   (3) The processor 310 uses a shuffling algorithm to randomize the    arrangement of the deck of cards in memory 350.-   (4) The processor 310 places the address of C1 on the “Card Address”    output lines.-   (5) The processor 310 reads the card assignment for C1 from the    randomized deck now stored in memory, for example, the “king of    hearts.”-   (6) The processor 310 looks up a digital stored image (e.g., from    card storage 375) that corresponds to the chosen card, in this case,    an image of the king of hearts.-   (7) The processor 310 updates the display of C1 with the chosen    image by sending the appropriate commands over the display data    lines. Note that cards C2-C52 also receive the update information,    but since their addresses are not present on the address lines, they    do not update their displays.-   (8) Steps 4-7 are repeated, replacing C1 with C2-C52 in the address    lines.-   (9) The LED indicator turns green.

From the player's perspective, she will have a deck of conventionalplaying cards with images on the front (and/or back). These cards arestatic and can be used conventionally. When it is time to shuffle, shewill place the deck of cards down on the shuffler and press down toensure contact between all cards. The light will turn red for a moment,and then turn green. When it turns green she can remove the cards fromthe shuffler. Exemplary electrophoretic display faces of the cards maystill appear to be cards of a conventional deck, but will have changedto be in random order—effectively shuffled. With power removed, theelectrophoretic displays remain constant indefinitely, and the cards canbe used like conventional playing cards.

In further embodiments, the changing of card values may happenwirelessly. Additionally, if a base 300 is made aware of game rules andis aware of card placement, it may be possible to automatically shuffleall cards once it is determined that all cards are face down on aplaying surface (e.g., through the use of sensors or other switchingcircuits).

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment with multiple decks of cards610A, 610B and multiple bases 300A, 300B where complex dynamic cards605A, 605B and 605C (“CDC”) are used in an interactive manner.Generally, an interactive card game would involve two or more players;each player having at least one deck and one card case/base 300. In anembodiment using a card case, the card cases 300A, 300B may act asintelligent storage mechanisms that hold all of the CDCs owned by theplayer.

In the example illustrated layout shown in FIG. 6, two players areplaying a fantasy trading card game with a first player having a base300A and a deck of cards 610A. This first player has played a first CDC605A. The second player also has a deck 6108 and a base 300B and hasplayed CDC 605B along with a companion CDC 605C. Companion CDCs will bediscussed in greater detail below. In the illustrated embodiment shownin FIG. 6, the cards 605A-C have rules for interacting with each otherand have appropriate capabilities.

In the example illustrated layout shown in FIG. 6, two players areplaying a fantasy trading card game with a first player having a base300A and a deck of cards 610A. This first player has played a first CDC600A. The second player also has a deck 6108 and a base 300B and hasplayed CDC 605B along with a companion CDC 605C. Companion CDCs will bediscussed in greater detail below. In the illustrated embodiment shownin FIG. 6, the cards 605A-C have rules for interacting with each otherand have appropriate capabilities.

Good examples of static (i.e., conventional) fantasy trading card gamesinclude Pokemon® cards from Nintendo Corporation of Japan, Magic TheGathering® Cards of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., of Renton, Wash., andthe like. In such games, a player may use cards to build scenarios in acompetitive manner. For example, if a card representing a creature isset up by one player against a card representing another form ofcreature, the respective rules and capabilities of each card would becompared and then a winner of that turn may be determined. In someembodiments, the use of dynamic cards may provide a more desirableenvironment in which to make use of fantasy trading cards. For example,if two cards that have creatures on them are placed so that they mayinteract, the visual imagery on the cards may be modified to show astill or animated representation of the creatures interacting. However,cards may have simply decorative animations as well.

In some embodiments, cards may collaborate to display information. Anobject can be shown moving from one card to another, or cards that arelined up can work together to present a large, unified display surface.Also, cards may support a “display” or “browse” mode. For example, cardsmay render a flashy image with less information presented when placed inan album.

Alternately, cards may contain fragmentary or redundant information thatis only utilized when other cards are present. For example, each card ina group may have a segment of a video, and when all cards in the set arecollected, the entire video can be played.

In still further embodiments, various dynamic cards can be used inconjunction with conventional cards or game pieces in the same game. Forexample, each player might have a “tally card” in a poker game thattracks game play. A trivia game might have conventional cards with“fixed trivia” and indistinguishable electrophoretic display cards with“digital trivia” questions that can change over the course of the game.

FIG. 7 illustrates several components of a CDC 700. In some embodiments,the CDC 700 may include many more components than those shown in FIG. 7.However, it is not necessary that all of these generally conventionalcomponents be shown in order to disclose an illustrative embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 7, the CDC 700 includes an input/output interface 730 forconnecting to the other devices (e.g., other CDCs 700, card base 300, orthe like). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that theinput/output interface 730 includes the necessary circuitry for such aconnection and is constructed for use with the appropriate protocol(s).

The CDC 700 may also include a processing unit 710, a memory 750, aflexible display 740, a clock 715, a sensor 725 and a power source 745,all interconnected along with the input/output interface 730 via a bus720. The memory 750 generally comprises one or more of a RAM, a ROM,flash memory, and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive.The memory 750 stores card information 755, card state 760 optional deckinformation (not shown), and game rules 765. It will be appreciated thatthese software components may be loaded from a computer readable mediuminto memory 750 of the CDC 700 using a memory mechanism (not shown)associated with a computer readable medium, such as a floppy disc, tape,DVD/CD-ROM drive, memory card, via the input/output interface 730 or thelike.

Some non-limiting examples of sensors 725 include light sensors, GPSunits, compasses, microphones, switches, accelerometer, motion sensors,magnets, radiation detectors, airflow sensors, orientation sensors,contact sensors, thermometers and the like.

In one exemplary embodiment, a sensor 725 may detect whether a card is“face up”/“face down” and how it is oriented (e.g., “upsidedown”/“right-side up”) relative to the player playing the card 700.Detecting such an orientation, may cause a change in the game playand/or rules that affect the playing of the card.

In another example, cards may sense their relative positions. Forexample, a “fighter” card to the right of a ‘plant’ card may represent afighter that controls plants, while a fighter card to the left of aplant card may represent a plant with fighting capabilities.

In some embodiments, the clock 715 may be selected from the variety ofabsolute or relative time tracking and/or event tracking devices. Suchtime/event tracking devices may include time and date tracking for anabsolute time and/or date, while in other embodiments the clock 715 maysimply provide a relative time since a given point in time (e.g., froman arbitrary point, from a card creation or the like). In various otherembodiments, the clock 715 may track actions or events and their orders.

In various embodiments, cards may evolve over the course of game play.In some embodiments they may then reset at a game end at other timesthey may evolve over multiple games. For example, in a real estatetrading game, rents indicated on the card might increase slowly over thecourse of the game, then be reset at the conclusion of the game.

In some embodiments, an action may result in a player or card gainingpoints of some kind and the card 700 may track these points as well (inthe clock 715 or elsewhere, such as in the memory 750). Accordinglycards may become more powerful as they are used more often (i.e., asthey gain more points from their use). In further embodiments, actionsmay be qualitatively ranked such that some actions may generate greaterpoint values and corresponding may gain more points for a player. Forexample, a skillful use of a card, or a relatively weak card (or cardcombination) used to defeat a stronger card (or card combination) maygenerate “bonus” or increase points.

In various embodiments, some cards may produce other sensory responsesother than a visual response. For example, a card 700 may have a hapticresponse or may generate a sound in response to card play. In onespecific non-limiting example, each card in a deck can produce aseparate tone. Laying the cards out in order could produce a song. As inother embodiments, additional cards could be added to vary the sounds.In one specific example, a C# Card could be combined with a companionTrumpet Card to produce a C# tone from a simulated trumpet. Likewise,cards may produce sound effects relevant to the game (e.g., according togame rules 765). For example, they might play “background music” or makea “cha-ching” sound when a player wins a hand.

In another embodiment, cards 700 may be used as writing or drawingsurfaces (e.g., by having many fine touch-sensitive pixels, possiblycoupled with display pixels). For example, in a picture-guessing game,the players might draw their pictures on a “card” or sheet each turn. Acard would erase itself after the turn was complete.

Additionally, cards may have “bonus” functionality unrelated to theircore functionality. For example, a standard card deck may also functionas a calculator.

It other variations, game rules 765 can be automatically processed andreflected in cards. For example, in a war simulation game, a soldiercard might indicate which territories it could be deployed on, accordingto a complex set of rules 765. In solitaire, possible valid locationsfor placing a card 700 might blink.

Some exemplary embodiments may have cards with Game Rules 765. Infurther embodiments, the cards may enforce the Game Rules 765. Forexample, if “Dominos” cards are improperly placed, the display 740 mayblink or otherwise indicate that a placement was against the rules. Inother games, breaking a rule might even exact a penalty against a playerscore.

Similarly, if a card was misdealt or a player accidentally revealedtheir cards, it maybe possible to deal the cards again or otherwiserespond to the breaking of the rules.

Although an exemplary CDC 700 has been described that generally conformsto conventional general-purpose computing devices, those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that a CDC 700 may be any of a greatnumber of devices capable of communicating with the card base 300.

In an exemplary game involving simulated combat, it may be possible toillustrate damage caused from interactions with one player's card to theother player's card(s) as part of the visual imagery on the cards (aswell as a corresponding change in the abilities, points, characteristicsand/or instructions related to the card that has been damaged). In otherembodiments, other forms of state changes (reflected in a card state760) may be implemented based on the use of cards 700. The state changeswill be discussed in greater detail below.

In one specific form of combatant card usage, cards may be “conquered”from another player. For example, in a game where one card “beats”another card, the winner would capture the ownership of the loser'scard. FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary, complex dynamic card device andwithin the card there is a card state 760 portion of the card memory750. The card state 760 may include ownership information indicatingwhich player owns the card. Accordingly upon vanquishing a loser, theowner's card may transfer in indication of its ownership state to thelosing card, thereby transferring the ownership from the losing playerto the winning player.

In further embodiments, a record of cards maybe maintained, optionallywith ownership information that may be used to verify cards as well aschain of title information. Such a record could be at a local device orvia a remote database or the like.

In some games, ownership information may be transferred as part of gameplay. The ownership information may be recorded by the cards, a remotedevice or both.

In one exemplary embodiment, cards that belong to one player were allturned a uniform color once game play has finished, while cardsbelonging to another player would turn another color.

Some exemplary cards may have their use limited. As noted above, somecards may be unusable unless played by their owner (e.g., identified viaa token, biometric information, location, private information or thelike). Other kinds of cards may have only a limited number of “plays”available to them (e.g., a wand of fireballs; a wand of fireballs cardmay only have five charges) or must be used within a limited period oftime.

Accordingly, it is appropriate for some (or all) cards to keep a historyof their actions. The cards may use such a history to keep statistics onhow each card has performed during game play. Likewise, the cards mayprovide an audit trail if any game play is suspicious. Periodically thehistory, statistics and/or audit trail may be backed up, cleared,truncated or the like.

In a similar fashion, cards may be combined. For example, a companion“skill” card can be added to an “actor” card to enhance a skill of theactor. In a very specific example, a named actor card “Ullrich” isplaced on the playing surface. Next, a “broadsword skill enhancement”card is laid next to, and in contact with, the Ullrich card. Thebroadsword skill enhancement data is transferred to the Ullrich card tocreate a combined card. The card state 760 of the Ullrich card isupdated according to the instructions and characteristics of thebroadsword skill card.

Furthermore, in some embodiments the broadsword companion skill card mayinclude instructions indicating that it may be used only a single time.Accordingly, after interacting with the Ullrich card, the broadswordcompanion skill card may be expected to delete its own data, or, at theleast, delete the instructions and characteristics that would allow itto modify other cards.

In some embodiments the combination of cards may be reversible. Forexample, if an actor card (e.g., the Ullrich card) is combined with acompanion skill card to “equip” the actor with some article, the reversemight be true as well. In other words, at a later point the equipmentmight be selected on the actor card to be transferred to another card,in effect de-combining the two cards. Such combinations andde-combinations may take place during card play, or outside the normalcourse of card game play.

In further embodiments, players may create card data from scratch. Forexample, there may be a “wild” (or blank) card in a fantasy game thatcan be loaded with data representing a monster of the user's design. Infurther embodiments, interactions between two or more cards may “spawn”new card data that could be contained in such a wild card.

FIG. 8 illustrates another view of an exemplary complex dynamic card inaccordance with various embodiments. The card 700 includes thosecomponents shown in FIG. 7 laid out in an example circuit layout. Theprocessor 710 is connected to the memory 750 via the bus 720 and mayalso be connected either on the same bus 720 or via separate buses (notshown) to an input/output interface 730, a power source 745, a clock715, a sensor 725, as well as a communication medium 810. Thecommunication medium 810 may be a conductive surface suitable forcommunicating information between a plurality of cards. Suitablecommunication mediums may include metallic contact points, conductivelayers, conductive substrates, touch sensitive components, lightsensitive components, radio frequency sensitive circuitry and the like.All these components are laid out on a substrate 840 of the card 700. Insome embodiments, either more or fewer components may be included in thecomplex dynamic card 700.

In still further embodiments alternate shapes of cards may be employed.For example, curved shapes as well as other regular and irregularpolygon shapes may be employed when creating complex dynamic cards 700.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary interaction between two cards (Card A700A and Card B 700B). While the interactions shown and described withregard to FIG. 9 includes a number of actions and communications at bothCard A 700A and Card B 700B, in further embodiments, additional (andpossibly different) actions may be performed to have complex dynamiccards 700A-B interact with each other. In exemplary embodiments, theinteractions between cards A and B 700A-700B begin with Card A 700Acommunicating 905 Card A information to Card B 700B. Card B 700Bvalidates 910 the received card information and looks up 915 anappropriate card interaction for Card A 700A. Card B 700B sends 920 CardB information and a proposed interaction to Card A 700A. Likewise, CardA 700A will validate 925 the received card information and will look upand validate 930 the proposed interaction to see if it conforms to itsrules 765 and/or instructions for the interaction with Card B 700B. Oncethe interaction has been validated, Card A 700A confirms 935 theinteraction to Card B 700B. Each card 700A-B processes the interaction940, 945. Updates the respective card state 950, 955. Updates 960, 965the card display 960, 965 and logs 970, 975 the interaction 970, 975.

The above described actions between the cards are performed in agenerally synchronous manner. In alternate embodiments, asynchronouscommunications may be used when using dynamic cards, and the protocolsfor such asynchronous communications would be changed accordingly.

To better illustrate an exemplary interaction, a simple playing cardgame interaction of the card game “war” can be used to show how cardsmight interact with each other. Two cards are laid down across from eachother such that their communication mediums 810 are in contact. Assumethat one card 700A is a king of hearts and the second card 700B is thejack of diamonds. Card A 700A (king of hearts) sends 905 its informationacross to the other card 700B, in this case it may be a numeric value(presumably the value of 13 as the value for a king card (and possiblysuit information), in this case, the suit of the hearts). While suitinformation may not be necessary for this game, in other games suitinformation may be useful. Card B 700B (the jack of diamonds) validates910 the card information (e.g., checks that the suit is of the types ofsuits that are being used in this game, that the card has communicatedvalues within the bounds, and may additionally validate information asto the deck from which the cards were drawn as well as the type of cardall of which may also be validated). Presumably, when playing a gamewhere all cards are supposed to come from the same deck, (as in the gameof “war”) it would be desirable to validate that the card being playedis from the same deck (i.e., to prevent cheating). Next, Card B 700Bwould look up the card interaction 915 based on the game rules 765 beingapplied. In this case, the game rules are fairly simple: compare thevalues of the two cards 700A-B and the card with the highest value winsthe hand; after which, the winner collects the two cards that wereplayed. One additional rule is that if the cards are of the same valuethat a play off is to be played to determine who wins the hand. In thiscase, the comparison between the jack with the value of eleven and theking with the value of thirteen indicates that the player with Card A700A has won the hand. Next, Card B 700B would send 920 its information(e.g. card value, suit, deck, card type, and the like) back to Card A700A. Card A 700A would then validate 925 the card information andvalidate the interaction 930.

In this case, Card A 700A would also make the determination that it hasa higher value than Card B 700B and would agree that it had won thehand. It would then confirm 935 the interaction with Card B 700B; afterwhich, each card would take appropriate interactive measures 940-975.

In this instance, an exemplary set of actions may include Card B 700Breassigning its possession to be that of the player who laid down Card A700A, as well as possibly providing an indication that it had lost thehand, (e.g., indicating the word “loser” superimposed on the display ofthe card) and logging the transaction into the card and/or the player'shistory of interactions. Similarly, the winning card may also have adisplay and state change, such as a superimposed winner indication onthe winning card.

Although the above description is a simple example, more complexembodiments employ similar interactions. For example, in a poker game itmay be possible to lay down the hands of each player and automaticallydetermine the winner of a hand based on all the cards interacting witheach other such that cards that are in separate hands form groups thatmay then communicate with other groups of cards played within the gameto form grouped card interactions. The appropriate game rules 765 wouldthen rank the values of the hand and indicate a winner. In fact, somecards may disseminate real-world information. For example, the highscorer in a card game may receive a link to a web site that the playercan use to enter their high score, or the card can communicate a codedvalue for the high score to automatically update a remote device.

Likewise, more specialized card games may be employed using specificrule based interactions between cards. For example, in fantasy tradingcard games, in some embodiments, it may be unfeasible to have a completerecord of all possible combinations of cards and their interactions.However, cards may be given certain points, abilities and/orcharacteristics that when interpreted by other cards in the game allowthem to interact in an automatic/dynamic manner.

In one such fantasy trading card game scenario, a magic spell Card A700A is placed opposing a monster card, Card B 700B in simulated combat.Assume that Card A 700A is a representation of a spell for casting acold-based ice storm spell that inflicts ten points of damage in generalagainst opponents. Assume then that monster Card B 700B is a salamandermonster that supposedly lives in a high temperature environment and isparticularly susceptible to damage from cold-based weaponry and/orspells. Therefore, when interacting between the cold spell card 700A andthe salamander monster card 700B, an example interaction might go asfollows: the cold spell card 700A communicates 905 its card informationto the salamander monster card 700B including that it is a ten pointcold-based magic spell of the particular type of card from a particulartype of deck associated with a particular player. The salamander monstercard 700B receives this information and validates 910 the cardinformation and looks up 915 to see if there is a particular referenceto this ice storm spell card 700A. Finding no reference to thisparticular card 700A, the salamander monster card 700B looks up 915 thecharacteristics in its instructions and sees that it will receive tenpoints of damage out of its total lifepoints (e.g., twenty) and alsonotes that it is particularly susceptible to cold-based magic spells andtherefore will receive two times the amount of damage normally afflictedto non-susceptible creatures. Therefore, the damage amount from the icestorm spell is increased to twenty points of damage (matching the totalamount that could be received by the monster before it dies) andcommunicates 920 its information and the proposed interaction to Card A700A. Note, in this case, the information may include that it is asalamander monster, that it is from particular deck owned by aparticular player, it is of a particular type of card and the like; but,also, that the proposed interaction is that the salamander monster woulddie as a result of the ice storm card 700A being played. The ice stormspell card 700A validates 925 the salamander card's 700B information andvalidates the interaction 930 noting that the proposed interaction isproper under the circumstances. It may be that in some embodiments, theinteraction would not be specified as the death of the salamander;rather, that the interaction would be an equation-like response, such asten points of damage are received, ten points of damage are doubledbecause of cold-based susceptibility and the resulting total issubtracted from the remaining points of the monster (in this casetwenty), therefore leaving zero points of damage left available to themonster. The ice storm spell card 700A would confirm 935 the interactionto the salamander monster card 700B, after which, each card would thenprocess the interaction 940, 945, update the card's state 950, 955,update the card display 960, 965 and log the interaction 970, 975.

In various embodiments of this example, the ice storm spell card 700Amight also communicate imagery to be used at the salamander monster card700B. For example, it may appear that an ice storm spell would flow fromone card display 740 to the other card's display 740. Likewise, once thesalamander monster has died, the display of the card may be updated toindicate that the salamander monster is dead.

In still further embodiments, where fantasy trading card games areplayed for possession of cards, once certain criteria are met (e.g.,when a monster card dies or the like) the ownership of a losing or deadcharacter's card may be transferred from the loser to the winner.

In other embodiments further interactions may be performed betweencomplex dynamic cards 700, those listed above are meant purely fornon-limiting illustrative purposes.

FIG. 10 illustrates one exemplary flow diagram of processes performedwithin a card 700 when interacting with one or more other cards. Inblock 1005 remote card information is obtained. In block 1010 the remotecard information is validated. If, in decision block 1015, it wasdetermined that the remote card is valid for this interaction,processing proceeds to block 1020 where the interaction with the remotecard is looked up.

In some embodiments, looking up an interaction with the remote card maybe as simple as finding an intersection in a database between two cards.In other embodiments the look up of an interaction may involve combiningthe values of multiple cards and/or multiple dimensions within adatabase to determine a specific interaction (e.g., looking up abilitypoint values, rules, characteristics and the like). In still furtherembodiments, such as those described above, the interaction may bedetermined by the characteristics of the cards and not by the specificcards themselves.

In decision block 1025, a determination is made whether any additionalprocessing is needed for the interaction to proceed. If so, thenprocessing proceeds to block 1030 where additional processing begins. Insome embodiments, additional processing may include the generation ofrandom values, the gathering of additional card information, orcommunicating with remote devices, such as a base 300.

Once the additional processing has been completed, processing proceedsto decision block 1035. If, in decision block 1025, it was determinedthat no additional processing is required, processing would also proceedto decision block 1035 where a determination is made whether to confirmthe interaction with the remote card from which the information wasreceived. If so, processing proceeds to block 1040 where the interactionand current card information are sent to the remote card. Next, in block1045 a determination is made whether the interaction was confirmed. Oncethe interaction has been confirmed, processing proceeds to block 1050.

If in decision block 1035 it was determined that no confirmation wasnecessary; processing would also proceed to block 1050 where the currentcard state 760 is updated per the interaction. Next, in block 1055 thecard display is updated and in block 1060, the interaction is logged.Card interactions routine 1000 ends at block 1099.

Returning to block 1015, if it was determined that the remote card isnot valid for this interaction, processing proceeds to block 1095 wherean indication of an invalid card and/or invalid transaction isindicated, after which processing proceeds to block 1099.

In further embodiments, cards may direct other computing devices. Forexample, a player can tap on a card with a monster's picture, whichwould cause the card to instruct the PC to load a particular web pagewith information on that monster.

The simple and complex dynamic cards that have been discussed aboverelate in particular to games and interactions between cards forcompetitive purposes. Dynamic cards may also be used in a variety ofother pastimes; one such pastime involves collectible cards. It is notedthat by no means are the two types of card activities mutuallyexclusive: collectible cards may also be used for competitive purposes(e.g., as fantasy trading cards) and vice versa.

FIGS. 11A-B illustrate two sides of an exemplary dynamic collectiblecard 1100. The exemplary dynamic collectible card 1100 includes apicture 1110 of a sports player and information about the player 1120along with a user interface 1125 (in this case a scroll bar). On theother side of the card there is another picture 1130 along withassociated text having its own user interface 1135 as well as additionalinformation 1140, 1150 with respective user interfaces 1145, 1155.

While not all of the illustrated information is necessary in a dynamiccollectible card 1100, FIGS. 11A-B are meant to illustrate one exampleof a dynamic collectible card 1100 which could integrate multiplecollectible cards within a single collectible card. For example, thedynamic collectible card 1100 may involve a single player, and theplayer can have their information updated periodically either throughthe interactions with other cards (similar to companion cards describedabove) or through some other communication mechanism (e.g., computernetwork, radio broadcast, television broadcast, or the like).

In one exemplary embodiment, the dynamic collectible card 1100 isupdated via combinations with other collectible cards. For example, if a“John Smith” rookie card (not shown) was placed in contact with aseparate John Smith card from a later year (not shown), one or the otherof the cards may absorb the information from the other card such that acombined card contains the information for both cards (possibly leavinga blank card behind, or alternately leaving two updated cards).

In some embodiments, cards may update their information permanently by acommunications link. For example, sports cards might update theirinformation automatically based on a radio broadcast.

In other embodiments, different types of groupings may be employed, forexample, combining all the players of a single team onto a single card.Or, all the players of a particular position within a league on aparticular card, or the like.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary touch-sensitive card 1200 that hastouch-sensitive cells 1210 across the surface of the card, therebyallowing a user to interact with the display of the card 1200. Suchtouch sensitive cells 1210 maybe combined with “static or dynamic” userinterface components, such as those shown in figure of 11A-B. Forexample, a printed (or dynamically displayed) image of a button (notshown) may have an associated touch sensitive component that would alterthe display, behavior and or data of a card.

Alternately, such cards may allow for more sensitive interactions, suchas sensing a fingerprint or capturing a player's signature.

In another example, in games such as Blackjack, where the strength of aplayer's hand is not clear, the cards may show “20” or “Soft 16” for theplayer's benefit. In trivia games, the question cards might also displaya team's scores or other statistics.

FIG. 13 illustrates one exemplary dynamic collectible card updateroutine 1300. In block 1305 remote card information is obtained. Inblock 1310 the remote card information is validated. If in decisionblock 1315 it was determined that the remote card is valid for thisinteraction, processing proceeds to block 1320 where the interactionwith the remote card is looked up.

In some embodiments, looking up an interaction with the remote card maybe as simple as finding an intersection in a database between two cards.In other embodiments the look up of an interaction may involve combiningthe values of multiple cards and/or multiple dimensions within adatabase to determine a specific interaction (e.g., looking up abilitypoint values, rules, characteristics and the like). In still furtherembodiments, such as those listed above, the interaction may bedetermined by the characteristics of the cards and not by the specificcards themselves.

In decision block 1320, a determination is made whether any additionalprocessing is needed for the interaction to proceed. If so, thenprocessing proceeds to block 1325 where additional processing begins. Insome embodiments, additional processing may include the generation ofrandom values, the gathering of additional card information, orcommunicating with remote devices, such as a base 300.

Once the additional processing has been completed, processing proceedsto decision block 1330. Likewise, if in decision block 1320 it wasdetermined that no additional processing is required, processing wouldalso proceed to decision block 1335 where a determination is madewhether to confirm the interaction with the remote card from which theinformation was received. If so, processing proceeds to block 1345 wherethe interaction and current card information are sent to the remotecard. Next, in block 1340 a determination is made whether theinteraction was confirmed. Once the interaction has been confirmed,processing proceeds to block 1345.

Likewise, if in decision block 1330 it was determined that noconfirmation was necessary; processing would also proceed to block 1345,where the current card state is updated per the interaction. Next, inblock 1350 the card display is updated and in block 1355, theinteraction is logged. Next, card interactions routine 1300 ends atblock 1399.

Returning to block 1315, if it was determined that the remote card isnot valid for this interaction, processing proceeds to block 1395 wherean indication of an invalid card and/or invalid transaction isindicated, after which processing proceeds to block 1399.

As often as cards may communicate with one another, in somecircumstances it may not feasible or efficient to always have all cardsin a game in physical contact with one another. Accordingly, FIG. 14illustrates a simple game surface 1400 suitable for having up to eightdifferent players play their cards with each other. The playing surface1400 may be separated into slices 1415, each of which contains activecells 1405 that can detect and communicate with dynamic cards on theirsurface. In some embodiments, these cells 1405 may communicate with acomplex dynamic cards communication medium 810 to send communicationinformation between cards on the playing surface.

An additional benefit of such a playing surface 1400 is that it may alsocommunicate or convey power to cards 700 which have a power receptioncapability or a rechargeable power supply 745. Additional embodimentsmay include interactions with/between the cells 1405 with the sensors725 of the cards 700.

Similarly, FIG. 15 illustrates a simple remote card playing card gamesurface 1500 where two players can play a game remotely with complexdynamic cards 700. A local player can use a local card surface 1510 anda local card receptacle 1515 (e.g., a card base 300 or the like) to playagainst the remote opponent who has their cards displayed on a remoteplaying display 1520. With each player having such a surface, it ispossible for two (or more) players to use the surface 1500 as a way ofplaying cards with each other. The remote playing surface 1500 wouldoperate in a similar fashion to the segmented playing surface 1400illustrated in FIG. 14 except that it would increase the distance overwhich card information would be communicated. Additionally, the remoteplaying surface 1500 would communicate card display information on tothe remote display 1520 of respective players.

In an alternate embodiment, other devices may facilitate remote cardplay. For example, electronic game devices (either handheld devices orconsole game devices, not shown) may provide a suitable platform toinput card information (e.g., with a modified controller that is capableof reading/recognizing a card, not shown) and communicate the cardinformation to one or more other remote game devices, thereby allowingremote card play. Of course, general-purpose computing devices may alsobe suitable for such facilitated remote card play.

In the described embodiments above, some embodiments have used cardbases 300 while still others have not. In various embodiments,particularly those which have intelligent interactions and rules encodedin instructions within the cards, e.g., complex dynamic cards 700 andthe like, card bases 300 may not be necessary. However, in someembodiments it may be desirable to have a card base 300, even forcomplex dynamic cards 700.

Accordingly, FIG. 16 illustrates one exemplary enhanced card base 300having numeric pad of 1610 as a locking mechanism. The numeric padcomprising numeric keys 1615, a lock key 1620 and a set key 1625 forsetting numeric combinations as well as a display 340 which may be usedin selecting one or more cards within the card case 300. Such a cardcase 300 may be desirable when the number of cards that a player ownsexceeds the number of physical cards they wish to carry with them. Theenhanced card case 300 illustrated in FIG. 16 is an exemplary embodimentof a card case 300 suited for storing a large number of cards 700, andthen selecting, through the user interface display 340, only those cardsdesired to be retrieved from the base. Likewise, such a card case 300may be employed to carry different types of cards for use with differenttypes of games and/or interactions (or even collections) but may beencoded from a base's memory 350 into programmable cards that may thenbe dispensed from the base 300.

While a number of exemplary implementations and embodiments have beendescribed and illustrated, other embodiments are also possible. Forexample, cards may communicate with each other and other devices (e.g.,game boards, game pieces, dice, computers, displays, phones, networkdevices and the like). Such communications may take place via physical(e.g., wired, touch, contact or the like) connections or via wirelessconnections (e.g., WiFi, WiMax, RFID, blue tooth, infrared or the like).These communications may simply report games status, or in someembodiments may be integrated into the game playing experience. Forexample, a card may indicate that a games piece should move to a newlocation, and the game piece may blink an indicator until it is in acorrect position.

Some cards, in various embodiments, may have different capabilities,including, but not limited to, different communications capabilities.For example, a simple card might only have a physical contactcommunications connection, while a more complex card could have one ormore wireless connections. Additionally, some cards may even allow othercards to communicate by acting as interfaces to the cards without thesame communications capabilities. Furthermore, such cards may allowcommunications with other devices or game components (e.g., dice,markers, game boards and the like). Likewise, other game pieces maycommunicate in similar fashions to cards.

Other abilities may include, cards used as random number generators. Forexample, the card could just be tapped to produce a “die roll.” Inaddition, cards may display random data. For example, in one game, aplayer might be forced to make a word out of randomly chosen lettersdisplayed by the card.

In one exemplary embodiment, cards can load data from other cards. Forexample, a player may clone a desired card by copying data to a blank“wild” card.

In addition to interacting with each other, cards may interact withother devices. For example, a website promotion that “gives experience”to a specific card would be possible so long as the device is capablewith communicating to both the card and the website. Therefore, in onespecific embodiment, a personal computer with a card reading peripheral,and a network connection, could share information from the website to acard that would provide experience point data to the card and possiblymodify its game play behavior.

In still another example, a device could be used to add and/or modifyquestions and/or answers to cards in a trivia game. Alternately, cardsmay interact with a game board. For example, a question card in a triviagame displays a question from the correct category based on the player'slocation on the game board. In still another example, cards can reflectinformation from a central data source. For example, in a trivia game,there may be one card per team, and the card receives appropriatequestions from a central data source (such as a base 300 or remotedevice).

Likewise, in a trivia game, cards may reveal information sequentially.For example, a trivia card might only reveal its answer after theplayers had guessed. Additionally, cards may evaluate player actions. Atrivia card might have game rules 765 that would indicate if theplayer's guess was right or wrong.

As already noted, cards may have both static and dynamic elements. Insome embodiments, the display 740 may modify a static image that is partof a card. A static figure might have eyes that move or blink, or textmaybe personally modifiable. For example in a printed portion of a cardwith the word “strength” and the dynamic display, the dynamic displaymay be adjusted to display the number “17”. Over time, and/or game play,the dynamic number displayed next to the word strength may changeaccordingly.

In further embodiments, elements of the display 740 may cover otherwisevisible, transmissible static elements of a card. In one specificembodiment, cards may be deceptive. For example, an apparently normaldeck of cards where all cards can be turned into aces may be used formagic tricks.

Some embodiments may have types of cards that are identifiable by eachindividual cards (e.g., by owner specified information, serial numbers,deck numbers, card type, activation information or the like). Inaddition, some cards maybe associated with one or more individuals,possibly including a current owner of the card. In such an embodiment,it may be possible to specify a rule that makes it permissible for onlythe owner of a card to use the card and game play.

Various cards may also store additional information not readily viewableon the display 740. For example, sports cards may have additionalstatistics for a competitive card game not visible to a player, thatwould only become useful (and visible) when the player acquires a secondor other enabling device (such as another card from the same game). Somecards may have different physical appearances based on their state. A“spell book” card may appear to “open” when placed in the playingposition. Likewise, a fighter card may show the fighter wearing armorwhen an Armor Card is placed underneath it.

In alternate embodiments, CDC 700 may provide access to real-worldevents independent of any game. For example, a card can be a ticket to aconcert. It has a video clip of the concert, can display directions tothe venue, and contains security code to make it difficult to forge.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the artthat a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations maybe substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. This application isintended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodimentsdiscussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that thisinvention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

1. A gaming-device-implemented game method, the method comprising, obtaining, by the gaming device, first card data corresponding to each of a plurality of electronic cards, each of said plurality of electronic cards having the physical form of a selected one of a playing card, a trading card, and a collectible card, and each of said plurality of electronic cards being suitable for being held in a player's hand as one of a plurality of like dynamic entertainment cards during a card game; generating, by the gaming device, first display information for at least some of said plurality of electronic cards; associating, by the gaming device, said first display information with at least some of said first card data; communicating, by the gaming device, said first display information to at least some of said plurality of electronic cards; and as gameplay of said card game progresses: obtaining, by the gaming device, second card data corresponding to each of said plurality of electronic cards; generating, by the gaming device, second display information for at least some of said plurality of electronic cards; associating, by the gaming device, said second display information with at least some of said second card data; and communicating, by the gaming device, said second display information to at least some of said plurality of electronic cards.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking card data for validity.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking for a sufficient quantity of cards.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising logging said associated display information.
 5. A game apparatus comprising a processor and a memory having executable instructions for performing the method of claim
 1. 6. A computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for performing the method of claim
 1. 7. A gaming-device-implemented card method, the method comprising, obtaining, by the gaming device, remote card data corresponding to a remote electronic card having the physical form of a selected one of a playing card, a trading card, and a collectible card, said remote electronic card being suitable for being held in a player's hand as one of a plurality of like electronic cards during a card game; looking up, by the gaming device, a gaming interaction corresponding to said remote card data; processing, by the gaming device, said gaming interaction; updating, by the gaming device, a current card state in response to said gaming interaction; and updating, by the gaming device, a local card display in accordance with said current card state, said local card display corresponding to a local electronic card having the physical form of a selected one of a playing card, a trading card, and a collectible card, said remote electronic card being suitable for being held in a player's hand as one of a plurality of like electronic cards during said card game.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising checking said remote card data for validity.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising requesting a confirmation for said interaction.
 10. A game apparatus comprising a processor and a memory having executable instructions for performing the method of claim
 7. 11. A computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for performing the method of claim
 7. 